Ethnos360

Last updated

Ethnos360
Founded1942
FounderPaul Fleming
TypeEvangelical Missions Agency
FocusChurch planting among unreached tribal people
Headquarters312 W First St, Sanford, Florida
Location
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
steve sanford (CEO) [1]
Revenue$67 million in 2020 [2]
Employees3,300 [3]
Website ethnos360.org

Ethnos360, [4] formerly known as New Tribes Mission (NTM), is an international, theologically evangelical Christian mission organization based in Sanford, Florida, United States.

Contents

Ethnos360 sends missionaries from local churches around the world to Latin America, West Africa, Southeast Asia and the Arctic. [5] New Tribes Mission is also a member of the Forum of Bible Agencies International.

Focus and beliefs

The mission's focus is on groups where no translation of the Bible exists. [6] When such a group is identified, Ethnos360 first attempts to make contact and establish a relationship. Then, missionaries are sent to learn the language and the culture of the native people, while further developing relationships and providing humanitarian aid. [ citation needed ] The missionaries translate biblical literature into the indigenous language, as well as teach natives how to read and write in their own language. The professed goal, however, is to establish fully functioning churches that operate independently of missionaries, which "in turn reach out to their own people and to neighboring tribes". [7]

The core belief of Ethnos360 is "sola scriptura", accompanied by a historical-grammatical hermeneutic in interpreting the scriptures. This emphasis on "word by word inspiration" leads to literal belief "in the fall of man resulting in his complete and universal separation from God and his need of salvation". Those who die unsaved go to "unending punishment" (hence the mandate to evangelize those without access to the gospel). Additionally, Ethnos360 is a classically dispensational organization, subscribing to the "imminent ... pretribulation and pre-millennial return" of Jesus Christ to earth. [8]

History

The Ethnos360 Bible Institute (formerly the Resthaven Hotel) in Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha June 2023 035 (Resthaven Hotel--Ethnos360 Bible Institute).jpg
The Ethnos360 Bible Institute (formerly the Resthaven Hotel) in Waukesha, Wisconsin

Founding

NTM was founded by Paul Fleming, from Los Angeles, in 1942. [9] In the 1930s Fleming had worked as a missionary in the British colony of Malaya. Initially, NTM was based in a former nightclub in Chicago.

In 1943 NTM started publishing its magazine Brown Gold. In 1944/45, NTM moved headquarters to Chico, California. Shortly thereafter it established a "boot camp" (missionary training facility) at Fouts Springs, California. [10]

Early activity expansion and associated personnel deaths

The organization sent out its first group in November 1942 to Bolivia. On January 12, 1944, the startling news came back that five of the men were missing. Details were revealed years later and, according to Time magazine, these five NTM missionaries were killed by aboriginal Bolivians in 1943. [11]

In June 1950 the first plane bought by NTM crashed in Venezuela, killing all 15 people on board. The second plane bought by NTM crashed in November the same year at Mount Moran in Grand Teton National Park while on its way to bring missionaries abroad, killing all 21 aboard, including spouses, several children and founder Paul Fleming. [11]

In July 1953, 14 NTM members serving as volunteer firefighters died in what became known as the Rattlesnake Fire about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Fouts Springs, California in the Mendocino National Forest. [12]

Personnel deaths by guerrillas in Colombia and the Philippines

In the late 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, a number of New Tribes Mission personnel have been killed by guerrillas in different parts of the world.

Training program

Ethnos360 requires all candidates to complete a training program. [16] The training program can take up to four years to complete. In the US, this training culminates in an unaccredited bachelor's degree. [17] Major Bible colleges such as Moody Bible Institute and Columbia International University recognize credits and degrees from Ethnos360. [18]

The first phase of the training consists of basic Bible education. [19] This phase lasts two years. In the US, this training takes place at the Ethnos360 Bible Institute, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, formerly called New Tribes Bible Institute. This portion of the training program is often waived for candidates possessing previous Bible training from accredited Bible colleges.

The second phase of the program involves extensive study in cross-cultural communication, church planting, and linguistic analysis. [20] It also lasts two years as candidates study advanced linguistic techniques, learning how to alphabetize unwritten languages and translate the Bible. Formerly called "Boot Camp" this phase also emphasizes basic living skills necessary for survival in undeveloped areas of the world (e.g. constructing and cooking from clay stoves, building jungle shelters, etc.). In the US, this takes place at the Ethnos360 Missionary Training Center in Camdenton, Missouri. [21]

An NTM Canadian training center exists in Durham, Ontario. [22] Similar training programs exist in other countries, including Brazil, [23] Germany, [24] Mexico [25] and United Kingdom. [8]

Aviation program

Ethnos360 operates an aviation program known as Ethnos360 Aviation, with the purpose of reaching more rural areas. Pilots are trained at a facility in McNeal, Arizona. [26] It is required that they have at least 300 hours of pilot-in-command (PIC) experience, a commercial pilot certificate, and mechanic certification. [27] Ethnos360 Aviation also flies and operates in the United States, Brazil, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and the Asia Pacific region. Fixed-wing aircraft, such as the Quest Kodiak, and helicopters, like the Robinson R66, are flown. [28] In January 2020, Ethnos360 raised $2 million to purchase a Robinson R66 helicopter for use in Brazil. [29]

Evangelistic approach

New Tribes Mission's strategy for "church planting" starts with language acquisition. [30] NTM believes that individuals should have access to the Bible and its teachings in their native languages and refuses to teach in English or local trade languages. Several unwritten languages on the verge of extinction have been given new leases of life, because of missionary efforts to reduce them to writing and to teach their speakers in literacy.[ citation needed ]

After becoming proficient in the local languages, NTM missionaries initiate in-depth Bible studies with interested parties. Rather than distributing tracts or showing the "Jesus" film (popular methods among many organizations), NTM focuses on teaching through the Scriptures chronologically. Missionaries begin with the Genesis account of creation and follow the storyline of the Bible through to the story of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the New Testament. [31] This approach is necessary because most of the cultures in which they work have no exposure to any biblical teaching whatsoever, and therefore require solid grounding on the foundational principles of the Old Testament before they can be introduced to the New Testament Gospel. [32]

This chronological curriculum consists of 50 lessons and is called "Building on Firm Foundations". It was written by Trevor McIlwain and Nancy Everson and originally published in 1985. [33]

Recognition

Ethnos360 is listed by Ministry Watch on the Shining Lights 'Top 30' Exemplary Ministries. MinistryWatch.com, in response to requests for a list of Christian ministries that are among the best to which donors can give with confidence, has released a "Top 30" list of ministries as the latest MinistryWatch.com Shining Light profile. Ethnos360 is one of those Top 30 Shining Lights. [34]

Criticism and controversy

Criticism of cultural change

Critics contend that the New Tribes Mission and other evangelist groups "hunt down primitive Indians and destroy their culture in the name of converting them to Christianity". [35] Paul Gifford, Professor of Religion at the University of London, accused NTM of changing indigenous cultures and representing US foreign policy interests in countries where they were active. [36] Due to such claims, in 1989, NTM was investigated, and subsequently cleared, of any wrongdoing by the all-party Parliamentary Human Rights Committee in Britain. [37] However, a letter of protest signed by Bishop Trevor Huddleston, Lord Avebury, Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group; Rabbi Richard Rosen; and Survival International President Robin Hanbury-Tenison, called on the Mission to halt its controversial activities and respect tribal religion and culture. [38] According to Stephen Corry, Director of Survival International, some missionaries do an enormous amount of work to help indigenous peoples and defend their rights, while others do great harm. He says he is not anti-missionary and that he himself and his organization have worked together with countless missionaries. He recalls how a senior member of a very large mission organisation personally told him that their critiques published in the 1970s had stimulated change for the better within his organisation. [39]

Deaths of members of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode tribe

In 1986, indigenous Paraguayans of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode tribe were allegedly forced into trucks by another tribal group, driven to a camp set up by NTM, and subsequently endured years of unpaid servitude, leading to numerous deaths from diseases introduced by the missionaries. [40] In 1987, the director of the mission, Fred Sammons, responded to these allegations, claiming that "The Indians live in fear, in fear of evil spirits and in fear of violent death because it's in their culture to kill. But when they come with us, they accept a new way of life ... We never force our religion on anyone." [35] Sammons also wrote "There are people who like to say that the Ayoreos are happy living in the jungle ... Yet if you ask anyone who has had a taste of civilization if he wants to go back and live like he used to, the answer is always a very positive 'No'." [35] Former Paraguayan minister of culture Ticio Escobar, claimed that Ayoreos who were brought out of their isolation exhibited "all of the side effects of losing one's cultural identity: alcoholism, social disorganisation, apathy, violence, suicide, prostitution, and marginalization". [40]

Nukak de-isolation

In 1981, in what is now the Río Puré National Park in Colombia, NTM missionaries interacted with the previously uncontacted Nukak people. Gift-giving led the Nukak to seek contact with settlers nearby. Combined with encroachment from guerrilla groups and coca growers, these later interactions with the outside world resulted in cultural instability and disease. [41] Many members of the tribe now receive government subsidies in San José del Guaviare. [42]

Political controversy in Venezuela

In October 2005, the BBC reported that Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez had announced his intention to expel New Tribes Mission from Venezuela. He accused NTM of imperialism, collaboration with the CIA, violation of Venezuela's national sovereignty, and illegally flying into and out of the country. He also attacked the group for living in lavish encampments they had constructed next to poverty-stricken villages. [43] [44]

Responding to the allegations, NTM said, "Any kind of air travel we do, we always do within the guidelines of what the government allows. We always file reports." With respect to "luxury" living, they "live in homes that make it possible for them to continue the work that they do. The homes that they live in are very simple." [45]

On November 3, 2005, hundreds of Venezuelan indigenous people marched in Puerto Ayacucho protesting against the expulsion of NTM by the Venezuelan government.[ citation needed ] Although the Venezuelan constitution recognized their collective ownership of ancestral lands in 1999, "poverty remains acute among many Indian communities and many protesters said the missionaries were the only people who have tangibly improved their lives." [46]

Sexual abuse

A 2010 report by G.R.A.C.E.(Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), an organization dedicated to helping Christian organizations deal with abuse, documented reports of sexual, physical, emotional abuse at the Fanda boarding school operated by NTM for the children of NTM workers in the country of Senegal during the 1980s and 1990s. [47] [48]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ https://ethnos360.org/find-a-representative/steve-sanford
  2. ↑ Ethnos360
  3. ↑ "Ministry Watch – History of NTM". Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
  4. ↑ "My Christian Mission Organization - Ethnos360". ethnos360.org. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Christian missions reach new tribes with the Gospel: where we serve". Archived from the original on February 5, 2012.
  6. ↑ "About Us - Ethnos360". ethnos360.org. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Christian missions reach new tribes with the Gospel: vision". Archived from the original on October 20, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2006.
  8. 1 2 "New Tribes Mission UK – Expand the Reach of the Gospel". www.ntm.org.uk.
  9. ↑ "Christian missions reach new tribes with the Gospel: heritage". Archived from the original on July 10, 2006.
  10. ↑ Brown Gold.
  11. 1 2 "Religion: Death in Grindstone Canyon". Time . July 20, 1953. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  12. ↑ Mendocino National Forest - Rattlesnake Fire Interpretive Site
  13. ↑ Alford, Deann. "New Tribes Missionaries Kidnapped in 1993 Declared Dead". ChristianityToday.com.
  14. ↑ "Mission News - Ethnos360". ethnos360.org.
  15. ↑ "Rescued Hostage: Keep Praying For Us". CBS News. May 29, 2002.
  16. ↑ "NTM - planting tribal churches: Train - Support Track". Archived from the original on October 3, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2006.
  17. ↑ "NTM - planting tribal churches: Ntbi - FAQ". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved February 18, 2007.
  18. ↑ "Accreditation and Credit Transfer". Ethnos360 Bible Institute. June 8, 2016.
  19. ↑ "NTM - planting tribal churches: Train - Discover Biblical Foundations". Archived from the original on July 7, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2006.
  20. ↑ "NTM - planting tribal churches: Train - Missionary Training Center". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2006.
  21. ↑ "NTM - planting tribal churches: Train - Campus Photos". Archived from the original on October 3, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2006.
  22. ↑ "New Tribes Mission of Canada". Archived from the original on January 11, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2006.
  23. ↑ "Brazil - Mission News - Ethnos360". ethnos360.org.
  24. ↑ "AUSBILDUNG".
  25. ↑ "Explore where NTM missionaries are serving around the world: mexico". Archived from the original on July 10, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2006.
  26. ↑ "Ethnos360 Aviation". missionfinder.org. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Fixed Wing Pilots - Ethnos360 Aviation". Ethnos Canada. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  28. ↑ "What We Fly - Ethnos360 Aviation". ethnos360aviation.org. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  29. ↑ "A religious challenge to "no contact" with isolated indigenous groups". The Economist. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  30. ↑ "Christian missions reach new tribes with the Gospel: core values". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2006.
  31. ↑ Trevor McIlwain. Building on Firm Foundations. Vol. 1. Sanford: New Tribes Mission, 1987. 8.
  32. ↑ Weber, Jeremy. "The Whole Word for the Whole World". ChristianityToday.com.
  33. ↑ "Section IX". Archived from the original on December 7, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2006.
  34. ↑ "MinistryWatch". ministrywatch.com.
  35. 1 2 3 Riding, Alan (April 1, 1987). "Asuncion Journal; In Paraguay's Jungle, No Letup In Battle for Souls". The New York Times . New York. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 17, 2012.
  36. ↑ Gifford p. 202
  37. ↑ Gifford, p. 114
  38. ↑ Lewis 1988, p. 221
  39. ↑ ‘Hakani’ and paving a road to hell
  40. 1 2 Blunt, Rosie (August 11, 2019). "Chagabi Etacore: The leader killed by contact with the outside world". BBC . Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  41. ↑ Forero, Juan (May 11, 2006). "Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking the Change". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  42. ↑ Hammer, Joshua (March 2013). "The Lost Tribes of the Amazon". Smithsonian . Archived from the original on April 8, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  43. ↑ "Chavez moves against US preachers". BBC News. October 12, 2005. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  44. ↑ "Venezuela orders missionaries out". BBC News. November 16, 2005. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  45. ↑ Alford, Deann. "Venezuela to Expel New Tribes Mission". Christianity Today .
  46. ↑ "Venezuelans protest Chavez missionary threat". NBC News. October 28, 2005.
  47. ↑ "GRACE - New Tribes Mission". GRACE.
  48. ↑ "Ungodly abuse: The lasting torment of the New Tribes missionary kids". NBC News. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  49. 1 2 3 4 New Tribes missionary accused of molesting children. WESH-TV News, Orlando-Daytona Beach, April 6, 2013.
  50. ↑ "Redirect Notice". www.google.com. Retrieved August 22, 2021.

Related Research Articles

This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through a listing of the most significant missionary outreach events.

A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as educational or hospital work, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and are called missionaries, and historically may have been based in mission stations. When groups are sent, they are often called mission teams and they undertake mission trips. There are a few different kinds of mission trips: short-term, long-term, relational and those that simply help people in need. Some people choose to dedicate their whole lives to mission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Cameron Townsend</span>

William Cameron Townsend was an American Christian missionary-linguist and the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gospel for Asia</span> Christian missionary and humanitarian organization

Gospel for Asia is an independent Christian missionary and humanitarian organization, founded by K. P. Yohannan in 1979, focusing on residents of Asian countries and small parts of Africa. The organization is located about five miles southwest of Wills Point, Texas, a small community east of Dallas,Texas. It is affiliated with the Believers Eastern Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piaroa people</span> Ethnic group

The Piaroa people, known among themselves as the Huottüja or De'aruhua, are a South American indigenous ethnic group of the middle Orinoco Basin in present-day Colombia and Venezuela, living in an area larger than Belgium, roughly circumscribed by the Suapure, Parguaza (north), the Ventuari (south-east), the Manapiare (north-east) and the right bank of the Orinoco (west). Their present-day population is about 15,000 (INE 2002), with an estimated 2,500 living on the left bank of the Orinoco River, in Colombia, in several reservations between the Vichada (north) and the Guaviare (south).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zou people</span> Ethnic group living in Myanmar and Northeast India

The Zou people are an ethnic group, that is an indigenous community living along the frontier of India and Burma, they are a sub-group of the Kuki people/Zo people. In India, they live with and are similar in language and habits to the Thadou people and Paite and the Simte peoples. In Burma, the Zou are counted among the Chin people. They are a hill people, "Zou" may plainly means "Hills" denoting the Zous are "people of the hills" or "of the hills", and "Zou" has also a different meaning in Zou language that is "complete" or another word for it is "finish". But, the Zou people believed that they incepted the name 'Zou' from their forefather 'Zou' or 'Zo', believed to be the progenitor of the broad Chin-Kuki-Mizo people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haystack Prayer Meeting</span> 1806 meeting in Williamstown, Massachusetts, US

The Haystack Prayer Meeting, held in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in August 1806, is viewed by many scholars as the seminal event for the development of American Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century. Missions are still supported today by American churches.

Rochunga Pudaite was an Indian minister of Hmar descent. He translated the Bible into the Hmar language and founded Bibles for the World. He was a renowned speaker and an evangelist. His organisation, Bibles for the World, has allowed distribution of the Christian Bible to millions of people around the world, by mailing them Bibles in their languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps</span> Christian movement

The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps is a militant Christian fundamentalist new religious movement. The ministry, founded in 1981 by James and Deborah Green, still retains its military structure, partially based on the original pattern of the Salvation Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayoreo</span> Indigenous people of Bolivia and Paraguay

The Ayoreo are an indigenous people of the Gran Chaco. They live in an area surrounded by the Paraguay, Pilcomayo, Parapetí, and Grande Rivers, spanning both Bolivia and Paraguay. There are approximately 5,600 Ayoreo people in total. Around 3,000 live in Bolivia, and 2,600 live in Paraguay. Traditionally nomadic hunter-gatherers, the majority of the population was sedentarized by missionaries in the twentieth century. The few remaining uncontacted Ayoreo are threatened by deforestation and loss of territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Odisha</span> Christianity in Indian state

Followers of Christianity are a significant minority in Odisha state of India. According to the 2011 Census, Christians make up about 2.77% of the population. Kurukh, Sora, Kharia and Panos are notable ethnic groups with a significant Christian population.

World Radio Missionary Fellowship, Inc., also known as Reach Beyond, is a corporate entity and nonprofit, noncommercial, interdenominational worldwide missionary organization with headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borneo Evangelical Church</span> Evangelical Christian denomination in Malaysia

The Borneo Evangelical Church or SIB is an evangelical Christian denomination in Malaysia. The church was organised in 1959 from the work of the Borneo Evangelical Mission with help from the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Indonesia, an ethnic Torajan-based Protestant church in South Sulawesi province, which is currently headquartered nationally in Senen, Central Jakarta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apostolic Church of Pentecost</span>

The Apostolic Church of Pentecost (ACOP) is a Finished Work Pentecostalism Christian denomination with origins in the Pentecostal revival of the early 20th century. Although multi-national, ACOP has its strongest membership in Canada. In 2002 ACOP reported "approximately 24,000 members in Canada, with 450 ministers and 153 churches." There are ACOP churches in all the provinces of Canada. ACOP's headquarters is in Calgary, Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Zimbabwe</span>

Christianity is the largest religion practiced in Zimbabwe, accounted for more than 84% of the population. The arrival of Christianity dates back to the 16th century by Portuguese missionaries such as Fr. Gonsalo Da Silveira of the Roman Catholic Church. Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population. It is estimated 85 percent of Zimbabweans claim to be Christians, with approximately 62 percent regularly attending church services. Christian faith plays a very important role in the organization of Zimbabwean society.

Avant Ministries is a non-profit, Christian mission agency focused on planting and developing churches worldwide. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Avant missionaries serve in church planting and church support ministries in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America.

Watkin R. Roberts was a Welsh missionary responsible for the initial Christian converts among the Hmar and other sister tribes in the Churachandpur district and Pherzawl districtof Southern Manipur, India. His ministry there touched the family of Rochunga Pudaite who ultimately developed a script for the tribal language with which Pudaite translated the New Testament.

The Kaiwá Mission is an entity of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPB), the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB), and the Indigenous Presbyterians of Brazil (IIPB). Its function is to provide assistance to the indigenous tribes of Brazil for better quality of life. The tribes with which it works are the Kaiwa, Guarani, Xavante, and Kadiweu, located across several Brazilian states and into Paraguay.

Australian Indigenous Ministries, formerly Aborigines Inland Mission of Australia, is an interdenominational Christian organisation that provides ministries to Aboriginal Australians. Aborigines Inland Mission of Australia was established in 1905, and ran many Aboriginal missions across Australia, including the Retta Dixon Home in Darwin, Northern Territory, St Clair Mission in Singleton, New South Wales.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.